Holding Back Time
by an incarnated angel
Summary: A very sad story. Still want to read? Sasuke Uchiha has to put up with Naruto Uzumaki, the kid of the friends that his parents worked with in their government jobs. Trying to distance himself from the pesty blonde, Sasuke will come upon a life changing experience that will teach him the true meaning of friendship. There is absolutely no yaoi, or yuri in this story. Rated T and M.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 of Holding Back Time**

**Seven years of age:**

Why does he have to come?" Sasuke the youngest son of Mikoto and Fugaku Uchiha complained as he was rushed to put his dinner jacket on. Mikoto quaintly smiled as she helped her son to look respectful for the important dinner guests that were coming to their home.

"Sasuke, Naruto likes being with you. You know how important it is for us to help his parents in watching him when they have to go on diplomatic meetings for our country." the tall beautiful ebony haired woman reminded as she stopped in front of the bathroom mirror to apply a second coating of her berry colored lipstick.

"All he does is follow me everywhere I go and I can't stand him!" the young Uchiha vented as his mother gently nudged him towards the landing of the stairwell so that they could go meet their guests.

**Twelve years of age:**

"Naruto move your lard butt over so I can see the movie!" Kiba Inuzuka hollered out as he and a bunch of Sasuke's friends were over at the tween's house to help him celebrate the Uchiha's birthday. Sasuke only grimaced at the embarrassment of who Naruto had become.

"Oh...sorry, Kiba! I was trying to see if the tv remote was somewhere over here." Naruto fumbled in getting out his words as he continued blocking the viewing space in front of the entertainment center. Kiba only snickered at what a pain Naruto was to have around.

"Sasuke why did you invite Uzumaki over anyways? I mean look at him for starters. He's fat. He doesn't know how to act around us always being nervous and stupid. Just because he hung out with us when we were younger, doesn't mean that he has to stick around us now." the dog lover ranted making sure that everyone including Naruto heard his every word. Naruto's face and ears were burning. He felt a sudden urge to grab his coat and head for the front door from the living room.

"I'm sor...ry everyone. I guess I overstayed my welcome." the embarrassed blonde announced as he lumbered across to the chair where his orange and blue coat was laying cross the back of the plush royal blue seating. Shikamaru knocked his elbow into Kiba to make sure he felt the sharp pain of the intentional jab.

"Why do you have to be so cruel all the time?" he scolded right before exiting the living room quickly to go and find Naruto. Sasuke only huffed out his frustration with the whole situation.

Naruto hadn't gotten too far from the tan stoned mansion when Shikamaru caught up to his upset friend. "Oi, Naruto, are you alright?" he asked with worry. Hearing Shikamaru near him, comforted Naruto, in one sense, but in another, he was highly embarrassed with what had been spoken about him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just need to get back to the house anyways otherwise Uncle Jiraiya will be wondering why I'm taking so long." he shared as he struggled with his shortness of breath.

"You didn't have to leave the party. Kiba was just being a jerk like always." Shikamaru tried sharing hoping that calling Kiba a jerk would cheer Naruto up a little, but it didn't.

"It's really okay, Shikamaru. I don't like parties anyways. They're way too noisy and there's too many people at them. I'll see you in school on Monday!" Naruto called out as he reached his house and started pushing through the front wooden door.

**Sixteen years of age:**

The class bell rang as the senior's piled into the science room at Konoha High School. Naruto felt good on this particular day because Jiraiya had bought him some new jeans, and a orange shirt to go with them. Four years had passed, and instead of his friendship with Sasuke getting any better, it was worse. The Uchiha hardly talked to Naruto, and because of the social circles that separated the two of them, they never spent any time together.

Naruto had only gotten bigger as the years passed by. He was now up to two hundred and sixty pounds of cellulite, and even though he thought his new clothes looked great on him, his classmates's opinion differed. Kiba in particular was always ready to shout his big mouth off with no regard to Naruto's feelings. "Oi, Uzumaki!...Lard butt!...Those pants are a riot!...What size do you wear? 24X? Man...the girls think you're the hottest guy at this school!" the brown wavy haired instigator shouted right before cracking up at his own remarks.

Sasuke had heard, Shikamaru had, along with all of the rest of the friends that Naruto looked up to. Unable to respond to the cruel taunts, Naruto stood up from his desk chair, but caught his thighs underneath the seating. Seconds later, many of his classmates were laughing at his embarrassing predicament as the humiliated blonde lifted the whole desk up with himself at the same time. His legs were wedged underneath the desk area of the chair, and when he pulled his body away from the seating, his books flew off and onto the floor, scattering everywhere.

Needing to gather his things together, Naruto bent down, at the waist, only to be embarrassed even more as he and everybody else in the class heard the big tear of material rip right down the middle of his buttocks. Now unable to control their laughter, almost the whole science class was in an uproar, as Naruto feverishly pulled his heavy frame back up, and rushed out of the class room door. He forgot his belongings, and continued waddling his way to the nearest exit to outside of the building since he was on the first floor.

The teacher hadn't even come into the room yet, and the class was in such an uproar. Quickly Shikamaru picked up Naruto's books and backpack, and then he too rushed out of the door to try and find Naruto. Sasuke was both appalled and embarrassed with the whole situation. It had been quite a while since Naruto had embarrassed himself to that extreme, and the Uchiha didn't know what it was that he could do to make it less difficult for the annoying blonde.

Shikamaru checked in all of the boy's bathrooms, and then he ran toward the gym to see if Naruto had gone there. But the blonde was nowhere to be found in the places that Shikamaru was looking in. Outside Naruto was mortified that the worst thing to happen to him, had happened. He had been trying so hard to impress Hinata Hyuga, the prettiest and most intelligent girl in his grade. She was like nobility to him, and every since the ninth grade, he had liked her very much.

Him buying the new clothes was all part of his plan to get Hinata to notice him. He knew that he didn't have much of a chance with Konoha's princess, but he was willing to give it his best shot. His uncle was helping Naruto any way that he could to try and win the girl's heart over with his nephew's natural charm.

"Girls really like a guy who dresses nice, Naruto. Buying these clothes will definitely catch her eye." he had shared with his over anxious wannabe son. Naruto's eyes lit up with hope.

"You really think so, old man? I really want Hinata to see me for more than just a fat slob who never does anything with himself." Naruto had expressed on that fine Saturday morning at the Konoha Mall.

"Trust me on this one, kid. She'll notice you right away, and I guarantee that she's going to like what she sees, too." Jiraiya had shared in the hopes that Naruto would take his bait and bite.

Now he was so embarrassed that his pants tore down the middle, and that Hinata of all people had witnessed him making a complete fool of himself. Forget about the other kids who were doubled over in laughter at his expense. They had never been his friend, but Hinata had always been and was still so kind to him. How humiliating he felt as he now paced nervously back and forth on the garden grounds of the school. Shikamaru finally caught up to Naruto, and as he approached his friend, he hesitated in approaching the lumbering blonde.

"Hey man, are you alright?" Shikamaru asked not having a clue how Naruto would react to him even being there. As soon as Naruto saw Shikamaru, his face turned beet red.

"Go back to class, Nara. I don't need you being my personal bodyguard." Naruto informed. As the blonde was talking, Shikamaru took a good look at who his friend had become since he turned sixteen that past October. Naruto's hair was longer, sort of wavy and pulled back into a pony tail. His face was so full, but his cerulean blue eyes still showed flickers of hope no matter how many times people at school gave Naruto a hard time. Shikamaru could see how badly Naruto had been emotionally hurt, but he didn't want to upset him anymore by recapping what had just gone down. Naruto started expressing his own feelings minutes later.

"It's not fair, Shikamaru. You have Ino, Sasuke has Sakura, Neji is with Ten Ten, and Kiba likes..." but then he stopped and lowered his head down.

"It shouldn't stop you from pursuing Hinata just because Inozuka likes her too. You have it hands down when it comes to who Hinata will choose to go out with." Shikamaru tried reassuring his friend. But Naruto knew the truth.

"Don't say things you don't really mean, Shikamaru. We both know that Inozuka is better looking than me. I mean, come on, I'm a house like he said once, and he...well he's in great shape." Naruto pointed out. Shikamaru felt a loss for words. They both knew that Naruto was too heavy. He had been that way since he was very small, and now that his parents had died when he was ten years old had only given him more reason to stay fat.

"Come Naruto, let's get back to class." Shikamaru suggested, but Naruto was ready with his comeback.

"Are you crazy? I can't go back there after I ripped my pants! I'm so embarrassed that that happened right in front of Hinata, and now you want me to..." but Shikamaru interrupted.

"I grabbed your gym sweats before coming here. They'll do for now. Come on, don't let what anyone says to you, bother you, ne?" Shikamaru tried reassuring. Naruto only smiled at his friend's attempt to try and cheer him up.

"Why is it that you always are the one to talk to me, after I embarrass myself? You've been doing it for years." the blonde shared as both he and Shikamaru started walking back into the school.

"We're friends, ne? That's what we do." Shikamaru shared as both he and Naruto heading toward the boy's locker room so that Naruto could change his pants.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 of Holding Back Time**

The rest of the day didn't go so well for Naruto. He did everything he could to avoid running into Hinata or Kiba, but luck wasn't on his side. As soon as he returned to go to his locker, his science teacher Asuma Sarutobi was right on him about missing class.

"Naruto, why did you skip my class today? Do you think it's alright for you to just leave whenever you want?" the stong built bearded male asked. Naruto was lost for words.

"I...uh..." but nothing came out afterward as Naruto caught the glimpse of Sasuke walking by. As soon as the distanced friends made eye contact, Sasuke opened his mouth.

"Dobe." he voiced while still holding the same stoic expression on his face. Sakura was latched onto the Uchiha's arm as they both promenaded by the flustered blonde without saying another word. Asuma was still waiting for an explanation, and Naurto's heart was racing as Hinata soon walked up behind the raven. Naruto froze as Hinata sheepishly raised her doe eyes to look at Naruto.

Her purple chaffon dress breathed on its own every time that Hinata took a step forward in her violet satin pumps. She truly was beautiful, and Naruto felt so small even being in her presence.

"Are you...okay Naruto?" she stopped and softly asked. Naruto's face was flushed as he tried hard to stop from overheating. Asuma had given up on the love sick puppy, and now Naruto was facing only Hinata.

"Uh hi Hinata. You look...ver...very pretty today." he blurted out being very nervous around her. Hinata immediately started blushing at the honest compliment.

"Oh...why thank you Naruto. Are we going to decide what we need to do for our science project together?" she asked which in turn caused Naruto to almost faint.

"Eh?...Science project?...Together?" he managed to spit out. But right when he was about to ask the girl of his dreams more about the assignment that apparently Asuma had given everyone to do while he was hiding in the garden because of his ripped pants, Kiba had now walked up behind Hinata and put his hand politely on her shoulder to get her attention.

"Hinata...are we still going to the movies with the Uchiha tonight?" he boldly asked knowing full well how Naruto felt about the elegant girl. Hinata was embarrassed by Kiba's brashness.

"Well...I...uh..." she managed to stammer out while she watched Naruto's face distort into the expression of anguish.

"Oh...so everyone is going to see a movie tonight...That's cool...What movie are you going to watch?" he asked nervously trying very hard to keep it together. Hinata could tell that Naruto had been hurt since he hadn't been invited to come.

"You're coming too, right...Naruto?" she quickly asked not giving Kiba a chance to be rude. Kiba's eyes widened and he got ready to make up an excuse for Naruto not to come.

"Uzumaki, don't you have to help your uncle with his reading materials on Friday nights?" he asked hoping that the idiot blonde would agree.

"Oh...yeah...you're right. I help him on Friday nights to put together his manuscripts so that he can..." but then Naruto realized that Kiba had started to gently guide Hinata further away from him as he kept on babbling.

"Maybe next time Uzumaki!" the smug hot looking teen called out as he continued escorting Hinata down the hall. Hinata tried turning her head to look behind her, but Kiba now had his arm resting on her dainty shoulder and making it difficult for her to look behind herself any longer.

Naruto was devastated. He stood at his locker as the girl of his dreams walked further down the corridor with his competing rival. Who was he kidding? How did he ever think that he could be special in this girl's eyes? He was a complete loser, and he had been for so many years. After his parents were killed in the plane crash that Sasuke's parents had scheduled for them to take, Naruto became deeply depressed.

He continued living his life, but food became his comfort. Having been the only child, Naruto was immediately moved into his Uncle Jiraiya's house, who was the older brother to his mother, Kushina Uzumaki. As for Naruto's father, he was a high government official, the mayor of Konoha in his young age. Minato Namikaze was very good looking as he was intelligent, and everybody loved him. His parents were adored by all who came in contact with them.

Being the son to such well liked parents, Naruto found it extremely hard to cope with their deaths and to not show animosity toward Sasuke's parents. The raven and his older brother, Itachi were hurting just as much as he was, because all four adults died in that tragic plane crash when Sasuke and Naruto were only ten years old.

Feeling that he owed something to the blonde for it being his own parents who had arranged the business itinerary right down to the pilot who would fly them to Korea, Sasuke had continued tolerating Naruto's annoying presence as they continued growing up. But now that they were going to graduate and go their separate ways, the Uchiha could have cared less what the blonde's future plans were.

"Who cares about you anyways, teme. You never liked me no matter how hard I tried to be your friend." Naruto grumbled to himself as he lumbered his way to his next class. In the cafeteria Sasuke ate with his normal group of friends, and as for Naruto he ate lunch with Rock Lee.

This kid was something else. Not feeling the least out of the ordinary, he couldn't even see how he came across to his peers in his grade. For starters he wore too much green. Talk about wanting to promote the message of vital youth. This guy was tall like a string bean and he was obsessed with staying in good shape through fast agility, flexibility and long endurance in strength.

No matter how weird he appeared to his classmates and everyone else that he came in contact with, one thing he knew for sure was that Naruto was his genuine friend. He knew the history between the blonde and Sasuke, and he didn't care that he had become the blonde's transference. He liked Naruto for who he was, whether he was fat or skinny. As both friends continued eating their lunch, Lee with his curry rice, and Naruto with his packaged ramen, the topic of girls came up.

"When are you ever going to tell Hinata that you want to go out with her?" Lee boldly asked as he stuffed another bite of rice into his mouth. Naruto just about choked on his last mouthful of noodles after hearing that question.

"Why are you asking me that here for? Don't you know that there are prying ears everywhere?" Naruto scolded. His face turned three shades red, just as Sakura passed by their table. Her pink hair was her modeling show case. No one in the whole school had Sakura Haruno's cherry blossomed hair. Other girls might have dyed theirs to look like hers, but her color was one hundred percent natural.

As she walked by the two misfits, she grimaced at seeing Naruto's huge frame that could barely fit on the oblong stretch of white table bench. No matter how hard he tried to position his excess meaty thighs and buttocks on the thin strip of seating, some always hung over the back side. Making sure to always sit with his back against the powder blue cafeteria wall, Naruto couldn't surpass Sakura's insulting glare whenever she walked by him. Seeing the blonde start to squirm at her approaching him, Sakura smirked before stopping right in front of Naruto's table and beginning her usual taunting.

"Aren't you disgusted with how you look? I know for myself that I can't stand the look of you. In fact as of this very minute, I've lost my appetite. Don't you have any shame being as big as you are?" she rudely asked out loud so that the classmates at the nearby tables could hear her. What happened next only made things worse for Naruto.

Blood started trickling out of his left nostril and Sakura caught the action. "You pig! How dare you start thinking of me that way! I say something to you, and then you start having bloody noses! You filthy..." but Naruto interjected.

"No...I...huh?" he asked as he finally realized that something was coming from his nose. Lee's eyes bulged as the blood poured out.

"Naruto, you're bleeding!" he exclaimed while at the same time, most of the cafeteria was joining in on the rousing that Sakura had started.

"Pig!...Pig!...Pig!" they continued shouting, as Shikamaru ran over to assist Lee in helping lead Naruto out of the cafeteria and to the nurse's office. Sasuke watched with no emotion. As soon as Sakura returned to sit at his side, the very look of her made him instantly lose his own appetite. Sakura pouted as she watched her boyfriend stand up and get ready to leave as well.

The raven looked at the pretty girl. Wearing her pastel peach colored cotton blouse, fitted jeans, and peach and aqua blue pumps, as he yanked his arm away from her clinging grip. Surprised by the sudden action, Sakura asked being oblivious and not understanding the reason for Sasuke leaving having anything to do with her earlier behavior towards Naruto.

"Where are you going? You're not mad at what I told that knucklehead are you?...You two haven't been friends for a long time, so why do you care what I said to him?" she asked obnoxiously. Sasuke stopped and then looked down at the girl he had chosen to go out with for the past two years.

"He might be a moron, but the key word is friend. He's still _my friend._" Sasuke reminded coldly as he walked away to throw his food tray away. Sakura watched as Sasuke walked out of the cafeteria and headed for his next class.

* * *

As the school year progressed, Naruto's classmates signed up for all kinds of school activities. Some chose art classes, and others, like Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Lee continued on in the ninjitsu team. They had been the school's all stars and reigning champions for the past three years. Each year, the most that Naruto did was sit on the bleachers and cheer them on.

This particular Friday they were having a big match against Suna, the nearby desert city, and the number one fighter at Suna High was a kid by the name of Gaara. This kid was swift in his skill, and he proved to be one of Sasuke's toughest opponents. Each year this kid would whip everyone's butt and that almost included the raven's, but not quite.

This year it was going to be different. Gaara held the intention to take Sasuke out by maiming him so that he couldn't compete any more that year. Little did he know that Sasuke had his own plan up his sleeve. As the match began, Gaara took everyone out including a very robust friend of Sasuke's circle of friends, Chouji Akimichi. This guy was big, but it was not only flab, but a mixture of more muscle than fat.

Naruto really looked up to his guy because he showed everyone that one didn't have to be small framed to remain a martial arts champion. Chouji had a special skill that he called the "human cannon ball" and Naruto liked this move the best.

"It was now a stand off between Suna and Konoha High. and Chouji and Sasuke were picked to be a tag team to take Gaara down, along with fighting his older brother, Kankuro. These two together created major power and Sasuke and Chouji knew that they were up against formidable opponents. For any match at all, the referee had put a specialized clause in the competition rules. If someone fought dirty during any of the other matches, then the two remaining school teams that would be last to fight could call a wild card on choosing their own moves to win the competition.

Several arrogant members on Gaara's team caused a lot of trouble by sweeping legs, slamming their elbows forcefully into Konoha, and Hidden Leaf High's ninjitsu team members noses. This in turn caused the fighting delinquents to be disqualified, and decreasing their scores. It was now up to Gaara, and his older sibling, Kankuro who was repeating his senior year. Sasuke, and Chouji made up the other team to participate. The tension was high as a multitude on the bleachers and the outer perimeter of the Suna High gymnasium waited in bated breath.

"You ready to claim the victory one more year for our school?" Chouji asked the raven. Sasuke nodded his head before responding. "Let's kick their asses." the Uchiha remarked. The crowds started shouting wildly as soon as Gaara and Kankuro took the center mat. Seconds later when Sasuke and Chouji stepped onto the mat, and the crowds turned into a frenzy especially from the majority of females cheering.

"Oh my gosh, he's so gorgeous!" one girl shouted at the top of lungs while almost making herself hoarse in the process. It was this way with most females, and as for the guys they were shouting out all kinds of vulgar taunts with animatistic gestures.

"Slaughter them, and make mince meat out of those turds!" some idiot from Suna shouted out. The girls grimaced and continued raving over Sasuke whether they were from Suna, Hidden Leaf or Konoha High.

"I think I'm going to die, right here, and right now after seeing him because my heart is beating so fast!" another girl exclaimed over the excitement of the audience.

As for Naruto he was sitting next to some kid he didn't even know, and he kept shouting for Lee to give Chouji his best taijutsu moves that he knew. "Oi, Lee...make sure Chouji uses your strong fist...that will give him more power when he uses his human cannonball!" Naruto suggested. Sasuke was listening and he became very irritated very quickly.

"Oi, dobe...we use only ninjutsu so stop shouting out stupid advice, so that we can win this, ne?" he yelled in ear shot since Naruto was sitting very near where the team was sitting. The sting raced through Naruto which made him feel both embarrassment and anger because of the raven.

"Oh yeah?...Well don't forget that Rock Lee uses taijutsu on other matches, and that he's won for your team before too! Just make sure you show everybody that you can win this for Konoha teme, ne?' Naruto hollered back. Sasuke got ready for the referee to blow the whistle as he finished scowling at the blonde nuisance.

The fight was on. Both Sasuke and Chouji were in ready stance as were the rich deep red-head that also got nicknamed "sand destroyer" and his puppeteer brother Kankuro. Gaara earned that name because of his fierce ability to obliterate his opponent with the ferociousness of the blasting of desert sand storm. Whenever Gaara went up against a team member his eyes became glassy with only a dead stare that confused the most scholarly student in high school. With swift agility one slice of his hand near his opponent's body, led to profuse bleeding before the disoriented competitor even knew what was happening to him. Trying hard not to be so fierce, Gaara practiced more subtle ways to take his opponent out without having too much blood shed.

As for Kankuro, his head was always into bizarre weapon inventions. He took up the skill of fashioning weaponry through puppets at the hands of his grandparents who still believed in archaic ingenious battle techniques. For some crazy reason he had indoctrinated his outlandish artistry into his martial arts performance. Now both he and his brother were taking on Konoha's battle elite and that wasn't only in mentioning of ninjitsu. But the energy was high as Chouji prepared to bowl over Suna High's finest in martial arts.

Now it was Sasuke's turn to show his proficiency, boldness, and ingenuity. He wasn't the reigning champion for nothing. He was the most cunning of all the Konoha team members. He struck with electrifying speed, and outwitted the most arrogant rivals every time. Known for his nickname "the lightening bolt", Sasuke shoved his electrocuting blows into his opponent's unsuspecting pressure points making it impossible for them to be able to continue the competition.

Many had tried to figure out his stealth battle techniques but they never had been successful. The whistle had blown and the raven was eyeing his prey's every move as slowly he pranced closer approaching Gaara with a predator's glaring eye. Gaara remained expressionless as he worked his way closer to Sasuke. The Uchiha shut out the sound of the jeers, and cat calls so that he could concentrate only on the pounding of his heart. The slightest move made in error would end the match right there on the spot, and he would have to hand over reigning championship to Suna High.

Every moment counted. Every move had to be carefully calculated and he was counting on Chouji to help him win this school year's district martial arts competition. Chouji was holding his own with Kankuro, but he had studied his opponent well. Coach Gai Maito had made sure that his team had studied the strengths and weaknesses of other high schools that they would be up against, and Gaara and Kankuro had been first on their list.

These two were conniving but Sasuke and Chouji had a plan to outwit them. Slowly and methodically the raven approached Gaara. Chouji kept a steady eye on Kankuro's every move. The closer that Sasuke approached Gaara, the more prepared the red-head became. Without warning the sand destroyer sliced his razor sharp fingers inches away from the raven's ribs. Methodically Sasuke pulled back slightly as the finger tips passed over the Uchiha's abdomen.

Chouji watched as Kankuro pulled out of thin air a very strange device that was connected underneath his arms and wrists. It hadn't been noticeable before, but because everyone knew that this was a wild card match, other ways of winning besides hand to hand combat were permissible. What had he conjured up? What crazy thoughts were running through this obsessed puppeteer's mind?

All the kids throughout high school had learned about Kankuro's special hobby. They had never seen him actually use any so called devices because they would have proven to be too dangerous for such a low-key battle. But now here he was, prancing in front of Chouji with a big smirk on his face as a stretch of bungy cord shot out from underneath the long cotton purple traditional coat that he wore for theatrics to enhance his astonishing performance in front of his high school peers.

"Puppet Master!...Puppet Master!...Puppet Master...whew!" the shouts and cheers hollered out in unison from those who were there to cheer Kankuro and his brother on. Chouji was now wrapped in the violet and black bungee cord as he struggled desperately to get himself free. Needing the raven's assistance, the pudgy team member hollered out his distress call as he felt himself being intwined with the strong binding. That would be the only one time attempt that Kankuro would be given to capture his rival.

"Sasuke I'm caught! Make sure you stay ahead of Gaara while I get myself out of this stuff!" he shouted out since he could barely hear himself above the roaring of the spectators. Sasuke glanced over at Chouji's predicament and then rushed toward his team mate. With swiftness he yanked the cord off from around Chouji's meaty shoulders and then quickly prepared himself for another one of Gaara's precise blows. He was having troubles of his own, as Gaara kept fiercely swiping his concreted digits at the raven's vertebrae. Without thinking, the raven pivoted his body around into a one-eighty turn and slammed the sole of one of his Adidas sparring shoes into Gaara's face. But the sand destroyer was too quick to receive the impact.

This guy was good. He never missed one attack thrown at him by Sasuke. Needing to up his game, the raven looked at how much time was being wasted and he got ready to make his move. Chouji already knew what his part was going to be and he was just buying time until "the lightening bolt" gave his signal. Sasuke gave a subtle glare at the stocky classmate and Chouji got ready. Gaara and Kankuro had this. They both lunged forward to capture both of their rivals into what Gaara called his sand coffin technique.

Obviously they couldn't use real sand, but both siblings had perfected the move with such precision that they could overpower any one of their opponent's with it. The idea was to interlock the competitor with both of them posing as a form of an external catacomb. The prey would be locked between Gaara and Kankuro's strong arms and be unable to break himself free. The more the opponent struggled, the closer and tighter the two brother's lock became. Eventually their rival would have to signal defeat, and they would win the point for their team. This was going to be the same move that they would use on Sasuke and Chouji. But this time they had to swiftly work together to encase their rivals together the same way that a black widow spider enslaves her prey.

Slowly each brother started methodically walking around the raven and Chouji with the intention to confuse them as to the reasoning for the steady circling stepping. The raven watched the idiots continue in carrying out their devious plan, while Chouji remained calm and further waited for Sasuke to give his signal. Faster, faster, Gaara and Kankuro were now racing around Sasuke and Chouji as they got ready to interlock their arms around both of their victims as soon as they subdued them into submission.

Sasuke looked over at Chouji once Gaara and Kankuro stopped moving and were now standing firm on both sides of their rivals. Neither one was dizzy because they had perfected their move to the point that they remained in their stance with absolute clarity. Sasuke subtly looked Chouji's way and then got ready to open his mouth.

"The raven flies high over the rolling boulder!" he shouted. Gaara watched as Chouji turned into a spinning top to smash his way through the two human barriers. The crowd shouted furiously for Chouji to turn into his altered form.

"Cannon ball!...Cannon ball!...Cannon ball!" they chanted over and over as Gaara and Kankuro unbelievingly watched with bulging eyes as Sasuke lunged forward and used Kankuro as a spring-board, and then soared over both of the their heads with one leap high into the air. The sibling duo shockingly stared at the raven as they remained mesmerized by his boldness. That's is when Chouji knew it was his cue to make his move. Still bending over slightly backwards as Sasuke continued sailing over their heads, Chouji entered into his enforcer mode and came up behind the opposing team, as he used his body to topple both Gaara and Kankuro over like a bowling ball between a baby split on a couple of bowling alley pins.

Gaara didn't know what was happening to him as he cracked his head against Kankuro's skull and then both slammed to the mat next to each other. Chouji got back up, and Sasuke landed safely just as the referee called out victor's of the match. "Konoha High School is once again the reigning champs!" the fifty year old man announced loudly into the microphone.

The whole gymnasium rose in thunderous applause including the supporters for Suna's home team. Never before had Gaara been defeated in such a fashion. Kankuro was light-headed, and his temple ached from the impact he just receieved from his little brother.

"It's over." he confirmed as he tried sitting up better. Gaara was still scraping his own faculties together again.

"They're good. They're real good. I never saw the Uchiha coming, and I never thought he could move like that." Gaara shared as he tried pulling his medium frame back onto his feet.

Naruto was already working his way over to his classmates, and he wanted so badly to congratulate the teme. "You guys did it!" he cheerfully called out as he headed toward the raven. Sasuke being Sasuke walked back over to his blue duffel bag still on the floor, and grabbed his water bottle to take a couple of good swigs from it. As he continued gulping down the ice cold liquid he saw Naruto starting to approach him closer.

"Teme, that was really great what you did out there." Naruto nervously shared as he tried walking closer to his long missed friend. Sasuke knew it wasn't the time to be annoyed since Naruto was being nice about wanting to congratulate him.

"Thanks." Sasuke managed to say before he scanned the premises for Sakura. Naruto could feel the awkwardness starting to surface between Sasuke and himself, and so he tried keeping the conversation going, but on a different topic.

"So we haven't hung out in quite awhile, how about we..." but Sasuke stood up and began throwing his bag over his shoulder before answering.

"I'm busy. I'll see you around." the raven responded as he walked off to where he had spotted Sakura standing. Naruto felt flustered and didn't know how to react to the sharp blow off.

"Right...I guess I'll see you later." he mumbled to himself as everyone rushed by him chattering among their friends, and co workers. Hinata watched as Naruto hung his head down as he sadly turned toward the gymnasium doors. Trying to work her way through the crowds, she almost made it up to being right behind Naruto, but then Kiba saw her, and he took the chance to talk with her.

"How about we go grab a bite to eat, to celebrate Sasuke's win." Kiba suggested as he guided Hinata in another direction further away from Naruto.

"But I was going to ask Naruto if he would like to come with us." Hinata shared, but Kiba only scoffed at the mere mentioning of the ridiculous idea.

"Don't worry yourself over that imbecile. Besides...there will be plenty of kids to have a good time with, especially with me." Kiba voiced with his charming smile as he pushed his and Hinata's way through the throngs of high school occupants in order to reach the high school's parking lot. The district competition was over and almost everyone from Konoha High was on their way to celebrate with their families and friends.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 of Holding Back Time**

Several months following the district Ninjutsu Championship battles, Naruto started sleeping in more than he usually did, and Jiraiaya made a doctor's appointment for his nephew to have a check up. The groggy sixteen year old now sat on the examination table as the physician looked inside the blonde's pupils with his pen light, and then checked the boy's muscle tone afterwards.

"Naruto are you eating well balanced meals everyday?" he asked. Naruto slowly turned to answer his doctor. "Not really. I don't feel like eating a lot of food anymore." As the doctor looked over at the two hundred and sixty...but wait the chart now read two hundred and thirty pounds. The teen had lost thirty pounds from a loss of appetite. Needing to find out more information, the doctor proceeded in his further questioning.

"When you say you don't feel like eating, can describe what that feeling is like for you?" the physician asked further. Naruto started going into his head as he thought back how his stomach had been feeling when he didn't want to eat any food.

"My stomach doesn't feel any different, I just get really tired and don't have any energy to eat is all." Naruto shared. The doctor wrote down the boy's statement, and then slightly looked over at how exhausted the teen looked.

"Naruto, I'm going to have you get some blood work done. Then when you're finished, you can go back to school, ne?" Naruto nodded his head not really caring about the instructions. He only wanted to go back in the car and catch some shut eye before they arrived at the high school. The doctor ordered for five tubes of blood to be tested, and when the nurse was finished, Jiraiya walked Naruto back to his Azure blue Ford F150 so that he could drop his nephew off. But as Naruto climbed into the passenger seat, immediately he closed his eyes and tried to return to his sleep.

What was going on with the kid? He wasn't acting the same way. Jiraiya was well aware of how difficult it was for Naruto to go to high school. He knew that peers could be cruel if someone was not the best looking, didn't wear the latest styles and wasn't popular. Naruto had been so strong all these years, and now that he would be graduating this year, he had made it. His nephew had held his own, and then he would be able to turn over a new chapter in his life by going to college.

As the boy slept for the short ride, Jiraiya, approached the entrance to the school's parking lot. Seeing how tired Naruto was, he opted to park his truck and run into the attendance office to let them know that Naruto was going to go home instead of coming to school that day. The blonde kept lightly snoring as Jiraiya hurried into the building. Sasuke was walking down toward the office to drop some papers off, when he heard the conversations between one of his classmates who was on hall patrol started talking with Naruto's uncle.

"Are you visiting?" the lengthy male asked while sitting behind the lowered desk with a stack of visitor passes on the surface. Jiraiya looked at the boy and then noticed that he knew him. "Shino?...Aren't you Shino Aburame?"Jiraiya asked being curious. The male looked closer at Jiraiya's face. "Yeah, aren't you Mr. Uzumaki, Naruto's uncle?" he asked. Jiraiya smiled at being right about his hunch.

"Yeah, you do remember me. You came to Naruto's sleep over for his twelfth birthday. Looks like they have you monitoring halls." Jiraiya shared just to make small talk.

Sasuke was still listening as he waited for the door way to be cleared that led into the office. Many teachers were filing out after a meeting that had just taken place, and the raven had to wait for them to pass by.

"I just wanted to let the attendance office know that Naruto won't be coming school for the rest of the day. Do I really need a visitor's pass for that?" he asked still being in a rush.

"No, you can go right through." Shino shared as Jiraiya walked further into the building. As Jiraiya got closer to Sasuke, feelings toward the younger Uchiha, started to become sour. He knew how Sasuke had ditched his nephew, and see him at the moment, wasn't giving him a comfortable feeling. Sasuke looked at Jiraiya and then waited for the older man to be polite first.

"Sasuke." Jiraiya announced with hardly any feeling in his tone. Sasuke was curious. He wanted to know.

"I overheard you talking with Shino. Is Naruto alright?" Sasuke asked with a little bit of concern. Jiraiya was agitated with the sudden interest from the raven.

"He's fine. Now if you excuse me." Jiraiya voiced before walking past Sasuke and into the attendance office.

When the older man came back out, Sasuke had gone, and Jiraiya was worried that Naruto would wake up and wonder where he had gone to.

When Jiraiya rushed to get back in his truck, Naruto was still sleeping even though the school's band was practicing right in front of them. Seeing that, Jiraiya turned the engine over and headed straight for home. When they arrived at their house, Naruto was gently woken up.

"Kid, we're home." the older guardian shared as he waited for his nephew to comply. Naruto slowly raised his head and once he realized where they were, he became worried.

"Why are we home?" he asked as he started getting out of the truck. Jiraiya followed after the teen, as they both headed into the house from the garage.

"Go hop in bed and I'll wake you when supper is ready." he spoke as he started opening up the fridge to take vegetables out from the veggie drawer. Naruto just did what he was told to do. That in itself was strange to Jiraiya, that Naruto would just do what was asked of him without a fight. But because the boy was so tired, Jiraiya wasn't going to start anything with his nephew.

* * *

Hinata, and Sasuke were the only two classmates who noticed that Naruto was absent from Language Arts class. The seat that Naruto usually occupied was now vacant, and it kept bothering Sasuke that Naruto had not come to school. It wasn't like what the dobe did, weighed on his mind, but Sasuke was finding it hard to concentrate on the class lesson.

Hinata wondered why Naruto wasn't in class. He never had missed this class once this year, and today was the first time for him to be absent from it. Thinking over and over again inside of her head, Hinata could feel her heart beating as she made a very important decision right then and there. She was going to do it. She was finally going to get up enough courage to tell Naruto how she really felt towards him. But how was she going to do that? How was she even going to go up to him and tell him what was in her heart? Nothing felt easy. She would have to wait until Naruto came to school the next day, and then for sure, she would confess her feelings to him.

* * *

As Naruto laid with his head on his pillow, Jiraiya smiled to himself that his nephew was resting peacefully. The old man had peeked in from the hall to see how Naruto was, but just as he was about to turn and shut the door, a sliver of light from the hallway bathed Naruto's face in its light. As soon as Jiraiya caught the sight of his nephew, his eyes bulged in fear and he frantically rushed over to him.

"Naruto!...Wake up!" Jiraiya demanded as he grabbed a towel out of Naruto's bathroom and started pressing it against Naruto's face to sop the blood up that was gushing from his nose.

"What!" Naruto irritably yelled after being bothered from his sleep.

"Naruto your nose is bleeding and I need you to sit up, kid!" Jiraiya reiterated as he tried desperately to catch the gushing blood.

Not understanding why he decided to go to Naruto's house which was only a few houses down from his own to drop off the dobe's homework, Sasuke was now at the front door getting ready to ring the doorbell. Just as he was about to press the button, Jiraiya's voice could be heard through the upstairs window that had been slightly ajar.

"Naruto, I'm going get you some help!" the frantic man announced as he tried to hold the cloth to Naruto's face while he started pressing out the emergency number of 119. After hearing the announcement, Sasuke immediately checked to see if the door for some strange reason was opened. When the raven jostled the handle, the door was unlocked.

Seconds later, Sasuke was bolting up the stairs inside a house that he hadn't step inside of since he was younger. It felt weird skipping steps to reach the top landing, but that's exactly what the raven was doing. When he got to the long unvisited door of Naruto's bedroom, his eyes widened at the sight before him.

"Naruto, it'll be okay!" Jiraiya shouted as he tried with all his might to keep the boy from falling over. Immediately Sasuke rushed over to Jiraiya and grabbed the blood soaked towel out of Jiraiya's hands.

"What's going on with him? Why is he bleeding so much?" Sasuke asked now being frightened himself. Jiriaya didn't have time to talk.

"Yes, I need an ambulance at 4444 Glenfalls Avenue...My nephew is bleeding badly and we can't stop the bleeding!" Jiraiya shared.

Sasuke was helping to hold Naruto up, but the heavy framed teen kept falling lopsided either to his right or to his left.

"I want to sleep!...Stop tugging on me and let me..." but seconds later, Naruto collapsed unconscious into Sasuke's lap.

What was going on here? Naruto was having a really bad nose bleed, and now he was so tired from losing blood that he fainted. Quickly Sasuke reached out to break the blonde's fall, but Naruto never even knew that Sasuke was in his house.

The ambulance stopped outside of the house, and Sasuke waited along with Jiraiya for the medics to help control Naruto's bleeding. "What seems to be the problem?" one of the male MTs asked as he started setting out his equipment. Jiraiya was frazzled but he did his best to explain the situation.

"My nephew has been showing signs of extreme tiredness for the past several months. Today I took him to his doctor, and they took five tubes of blood from him. I was going to bring him to school after the appointment, but he was still very tired by the time we arrived at the school, I told the school the situation and then we came back home. I told Naruto to go to bed, and usually he would have argued with me, but this time he just went. About thirty minutes ago, I checked in on him to see if he was okay, and that's when I noticed that there was blood all down the front of him. It hasn't stopped, and I'm so worried I can't think straight." Jiraiya shared.

Sasuke didn't know what to think or how even to respond. All that had been going on with the dobe, and he never let on to anyone how he was really feeling. The medics took over trying to stop the bleeding, and Sasuke walked out of the room, to go and talk to Jiraiya who had already left so that the medics could do their job without any distractions from him.

"What's going on with Naruto?" Sasuke asked with genuine concern. Then it dawned on Jiraiya that Sasuke was even there.

"Why are you here? You never come over." Jiraiya scolded which in turn caused Sasuke to want to explain himself.

"I was dropping some homework off to Naruto when I heard you through the upstairs window." the raven shared. Jiraiya was more worried about Naruto, but he still conjured up enough animosity toward the snob.

"You think that you can just come over here all of sudden after years of you ignoring my nephew? I don't want you here. You can let yourself out." Jiraiya informed right before walking back into Naruto's room to help the medics wheel him out and down stairs.

Sasuke didn't know how to feel. What had just happened? Jiraiya had just kicked him out? Not expecting that as being the old man's response to him being there, the raven walked down the stairs and outside. Wanting to turn toward his house, he couldn't help but turn around and watch as Naruto laid unconscious on the stretcher with three male medics along with Jiraiya at his side. The dobe was really sick. This was something that Sasuke never thought could happen.

* * *

Hinata dropped the fastened bowl of ramen that she had just ordered at Ichiraku's as she watched Naruto being lifted up into the back of the ambulance. She didn't know what was going on. Why were they taking him away? What had happened? She was going to finally tell him how she felt and now this. This wasn't suppose to happen. Unable to think straight, she rushed over to Jiraiya before he hopped in the back of the emergency vehicle.

"Ano, Jiraiya san, what's...what's happening to Naruto? Is he going to be alright?" she asked in a panic. Jiraiya looked at the frightened girl.

"Can I help you?" he asked not paying much attention to Hinata's presence at all. He climbed into the van as he voiced his concern. "I'm sorry but I can't talk right now." he managed to share right before the ambulance doors slammed shut, and the siren started blaring through the neighborhood.

Naruto was on that stretcher and he looked very ill. What was going on? Why was he even ill?

* * *

As Naruto was wheeled into an examination room, and then prodded with needles and hooked up to tubes, he remained unconscious the whole time. He had lost a lot of blood, and now he would need rest to replenish it. Barely able to move the exhausted blood started to stir a little, and this was a good sign for the medical team. "

"Hey, Naruto, how are you feeling?" a nurse began asking. Naruto looked around at each person who was staring down at him before he responded back.

"Who are all of you?" he asked being very groggy. One of the head practitioners smiled before answering for the rest of the medical team.

"Naruto, you're in the ER at Konoha General right now. Do you remember anything that happened to you earlier?" she asked. Naruto looked baffled after hearing that question proposed to him.

"I remember sleeping. Why am I here after sleeping?" he asked innocently.

The team started jotting down observations before the same head practitioner spoke again.

"We're going to have you stay over night. We'll need to run some more tests, and by you being here, will make that process easier."she shared.

Naruto only kept staring at the tall onxed hair woman. It came down shoulder length, and her petite frame subtly shown through her white medical jacket that she was wearing. As Naruto kept staring at her he didn't realize for how long he had been doing so.

"Is there something you wanted to ask me?" the concerned twenty-three year old asked.

"You're beautiful." Naruto managed to say before falling back into another deep sleep. He had lost quite a bit of blood and his body wasn't strong enough yet. The doctor smiled at the boy feeling very flattered by his compliment to her.

* * *

Sasuke now laid on his bed wondering why Naruto had become so sick all of a sudden. It would have been hard for anyone to notice the change is his health with him being so heavy. But for Naruto to have to go to the hospital because of a bloody nose, raised some slight concern on the Uchiha's part. Also with what Jiraiya had said to him, and made him feel when he went over to the dobe's house. That wasn't expected. So what if he hadn't hung out with Naruto all these years. There was no reason for him to feel that he owed the dobe anything.

It was his parents who agreed to go on the trip, and besides he had lost his own parents on the same trip. So why would Naruto's uncle look down on him for not hanging out with Naruto all those years? The more these type of questions kept eating at Sasuke's mind, the more shooting some hoops looked inviting to the raven.

Turning toward his blue azure cell phone, Sasuke called Shikamaru up.

"Yeah?" the Shogi player asked as he tried to make his next move against his father. Both Nara men were quietly playing some strategy games after they both had been rung up one side and down the other by his mother for not picking up their dirty laundry in their bedroom.

_"I don't know how many times I need to tell the both of you, that it's your responsibility to make sure you get your dirty clothes to the wash machine! You two aren't the only ones who work hard outside of this household. I work hard too, and I won't stand for either of you not pulling your own weight!" Yoshino hollered._

_"_Do you want to shoot some hoops at my place?" the raven asked.

"What happened, Naruto get on your nerves again?" Shikamaru teased. But Sasuke didn't respond. Immediately Shikamaru could sense that something wasn't right.

"What's going on? Did you break up with Sakura?" Shikamaru asked seriously right as his father finished the game by taking his last playing piece off the board. Grimacing silently that his father had defeated him again, Shikamaru stood up from the sitting position on the floor that he had been in, and continued walking until he was inside his bedroom and he had closed the door.

"Tell me what's going on for real." he instructed. Sasuke didn't have any qualms in telling what had just happened with the dobe.

"The dobe had to go to the hospital not too long ago." the raven began. Shikamaru's eyes widened.

"Is he alright? Did you go with him?" Shikamaru asked further. Sasuke scowled at being asked that question.

"Why would I go with him? His uncle doesn't like me, and I would have probably made matters worse if I had gone." Sasuke shared being slightly hurt and irritated at once.

Shikamaru wondered if he was hearing right or not. Here was Naruto's supposedly best friend, and he couldn't even go to see him? Not feeling good about Sasuke's decision, Shikamaru had to speak up.

"You need to go! I don't care how long it's been that you haven't hung out with Naruto, you still need to go! He's counting on you, Sasuke! Don't you know how much Naruto still looks up to you? Even after all these years, he still considers you to be his closest friend." Shikamaru reminded. But instead of convincing the raven to change his mind about going to the hospital, it only made the Uchicha more angry.

"That's what I don't want is for the dobe to look up to me, or follow me around, or consider me as his closest friend. He did all of that on his own. I never indicated even as kids that I wanted him to follow me around like a lost puppy! I can't stand that he doesn't want to do any thing for himself! Year after year he dreams of being a martial artist, but instead of working on that dream, he opts to sit on the bleachers and only watch someone else accomplish that dream in their own life! I'm sick of him admiring me! I just want to live my life without the dobe being a part of it!" Sasuke vented. This in turn only helped Shikamaru to really see how much Sasuke did care about Naruto.

"Okay, so he creeps you out on how much he looks up to you. Man if I had a friend like that, I would be so flattered. But you, you throw a good friendship away. Maybe there was a reason why you were suppose to go to Naruto's house today. Think about that. As for me shooting hoops, I'll pass. I have to help my old man at the medicine shop." Shikamaru shared.

* * *

The next day, Naruto was anxious to leave the hospital. He felt uncomfortable having nurses fussing over him. The fact that he was so big didn't make him feel any better. From what he gathered from the nurses, the doctor and his uncle, he had a very bad nose bleed But why would he need to be admitted into a hospital over that? His uncle was too protective. As he thought about the events that had happened the day before, were his eyes playing tricks on him, or did he see Sasuke in his bedroom?

No sooner did that thought come to his mind, Jiraiya walked back into the hospital bedroom looking very distraught but trying to be as cheerful as possible. "Oi, kid, looks like they're letting you go home today. So let's start getting these clothes that I brought for you, and I'll help you get dressed." Jiraiya shared as he busied himself with grabbing Naruto's jeans, shirt, and some socks and underwear that he pulled out of an overnight bag.

Naruto knew something was bothering his uncle, and he wanted to ask him what it was, but the man kept busying himself so that the concerned teen didn't have time to ask his questions. "Okay stick your arm like that in this sleeve and..." but it was proving to be too much.

"Why are you helping me get dressed! I'm sixteen years old, and I don't need any help with putting my clothes on!" Naruto yelled which caused Jiraiya to stop abruptly in his tracks. Slowing his pace down immediately, the long white-haired male looked deep into Naruto's eyes before responding.

"You're right. You don't need my help. But Naruto...in a few minutes your doctor is going to come into the room and talk to us together, ne?" Jiraiya shared with caused Naruto feel uncomfortable.

"Talk to us about what? I've got school work to catch up on, and I don't want to stay here any longer than I need to." he iterated.

Sasuke had taken Shikamaru's advice, and he decided to visit the dobe after all. Just before the raven reached Naruto's hospital room, the doctor had entered into the room and had left the door slightly a jarred. Now Naruto's physician was sitting on a chair in the room and explaining some things to Naruto and Jiraiya. Not meaning to, Sasuke started to open the door until he heard what it was that they were talking about.

"...so the test showed that you are very sick, Naruto." the doctor began sharing. Naruto's face looked confused, and he still hadn't grasped any of what the doctor was sharing.

"What do you mean by sick? You mean I have a bad cold, or the flu or something...what?" the blonde asked while Jiraiya was trying very hard not to tear up in front of his nephew. Sasuke kept pretending that he leaning up against the hall wall whenever a nurse walked by. But he was ear shot away and could hear everything.

"What I'm telling you Naruto is that you have what is termed as AML Acute Myeloid Leukemia. That's the cause of your bloody nose that led your uncle to admit you into the hospital yesterday. Had you been having bloody noses before this?" the doctor asked.

"I had some in the past few months, but they were no big deal." Naruto shared.

"That's because the disease hadn't progressed, but now it has. I also noticed that your formal weight only about a month ago was two hundred sixty pounds." the doctor shared as he looked over Naruto's information.

"Yeah, I've been pretty heavy for a long time. But the doctor I saw yesterday at the clinic said I went down about thirty pounds. I don't know how that could have happened since I haven't been trying to lose weight." Naruto shared. Jiraiya was becoming too emotional and he needed to turn around and grab from the box of tissues behind him.

"So what's going to happen now? Do I have to come in for treatments? What are my options?" Naruto asked as if hearing about his disease was no big deal to him. The doctor studied the boy's face and he knew that Naruto was trying to put up a brave front.

"You'll need, chemotherapy, blood transfusions that will be scheduled. You'll need to continue eating healthy meals, because you've lost thirty pounds in just a short bit of time. You can continue going to school, and being active with your family and friends, but there may be times when you experience great pain in your limbs.

Your white blood cells are abnormal in your bone marrow, and this is what caused this to happen." the doctor shared in a professional manner. Naruto's head was reeling.

"I wanted to lose weight, but not like this. Man...this is too much to listen to. I think I want to go to McDonald's and order the biggest meal on the menu. This is too much for me." Naruto shared as he started standing up and getting ready to put his navy blue and orange jacket on. Jiraiya wanted to assist him, but Naruto rejected to the attempt of assistance.

"I can do it myself." Naruto spoke as all three men started walking toward the door. Sasuke heard them coming, and he darted around the corner into the men's bathroom. Naruto needed to go, and as soon as he reached the hall, he headed for the men's bathroom as well.

Sasuke was huddled up inside one of the bathroom stalls because he wasn't sure if Naruto was one of the people coming into the bathroom. When Naruto got inside the small private room, he thought he was alone and started talking out loud to himself about everything.

"Leukemia, right. I can be beat this. No problem. I've been alone on everything I do for most of my life, and I won't let some stupid disease weaken me. Besides it's not like I have any friends that would help me anyway. The teme, he turned out to hate me, and I still don't know what I did so wrong for him to hate me the way that he does. Shikamaru might help. He's always been there for me, but I wouldn't want to burden him with my troubles. Hinita? She's to sophisticated to lower herself to wanting to help some worthless boy in her class.

"Man, Uzumaki you are a loser the way Sasuke sees you. I've probably lost his friendship forever." Naruto finished saying after doing his business, washing his hands, and heading out the door. Jiraiya had been calling for him to hurry up.

"Come on Naruto, the lines are long at McD's!" he hollered out through the door.

"I'm coming, hold your horses, old man!" the blonde shouted back as he exited his way out of the bathroom door.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 of Holding Back Time**

Sasuke sat silent still sitting on the toilet even though he had never done any business of his own. It was good that he had hid in the stall, because Naruto was the one who came into the bathroom. But now that he had listened to the dobe's take on things, he wasn't sure how he was to respond to it. Naruto already knew how he felt about him. That was a surprise. The way the dobe had acted all these years, he seemed to be totally oblivious, but that wasn't the truth at all. Could Naruto have been faking about a lot of things, and he himself just didn't realize it? The more that Sasuke thought about everything, the more he understood that he was the one who was totally oblivious.

Naruto was heaping all the burden upon himself, and he, the raven never thought about it. Now Naruto was told that he had leukemia and that he was seriously sick. How was the dobe going to handle knowing that? As Sasuke walked out of the stall and started washing his hands, Shikamaru's words started eating away at him. The strategist was right. But there was nothing that he could do at the moment. He had overheard a conversation that wasn't meant for his ears to hear. So how was he going to react around Naruto once he did return back to school?

The answer was simple. He would continue treating Naruto the same way as he always did. Feeling better about his decision, the raven pulled opened the bathroom door and headed toward the elevators to return to the main floor so that he could leave the hospital and practice some ninjutsu at his private dojo.

* * *

When Naruto arrived back home, he went straight to his room and locked the door. Once inside everything hit him, and he fell hard onto to mattress barely aware of how hard he hit his body against it. Those three letters kept echoing inside his mind as he laid dumbfounded staring blankly up at his white speckled ceiling tiles. "You have AML...AML...AML..." Jiraiya had been banging furiously on his nephew's door, but the numbed feeling teen never heard him.

"Naruto are you alright in there? Open the door so that we can talk more about this!" he hollered out, but the blonde never replied. Seeing that after several minutes of trying to get Naruto's attention, the old man resorted to finding the key that opened up Naruto's door. Once he did, he was relieved to find that the blonde was snoring, and drooling on his pillow. He had removed his day clothes and was sleeping in only his green and black plaid boxing shorts, and green t-shirt. The kid was exhausted and just needed some rest. Walking further into his nephew's messy bedroom, Jiraiya couldn't help but chuckle at how untidy Naruto really was. This kid still had dirty instant ramen containers dispersed in different areas of his room. Jiraiya started cleaning up some of the mess after he pulled Naruto's orange and red flaming designed comforter over the top of him. Before leaving the unkept room, he took one more look at his nephew and tears started to form again. _What was going to happen?_ he worried as he quickly left the space and returned to his study to work some more on his upcoming novel.

Sasuke walked into the science class that morning, and immediately Shikamaru wanted to know what was up. "Did you go see Naruto?" he asked first thing. Sasuke started getting his textbooks out before responding. Making sure that no one else was listening, he nodded his head up and down in reply. Shikamaru studied the raven's face, and he looked distraught about something. "So is he doing okay?" the concerned friend asked. This time Sasuke only glared at his classmate and said nothing. Shikamaru turned to look at the front of the room. He knew that was his limit in questioning the Uchiha. When Sasuke gave that expression, it meant for the person to back off.

Shikamaru knew it was time to stop with his interrogation. Deciding not to rely on Sasuke for the answers he sought, he would go over to Naruto's house after school. As the the science class began, both friends had a hard time concentrating on the lesson. Their friends could see that they were in deep thought about something, but that was about to change when someone's outburst in the class snapped Shikamaru and Sasuke out of their daydreaming.

"Where's the annoyance these days? What is he doing, skipping out? Man that little runt has a lot of nerve to ditch class like that." the rude male hollered out. Sasuke looked over at Naruto's vacant chair, and without warning he felt uneasy. Needing to see if he was alright, he stood up quickly and grabbed his things to bolt out of the door. His heart was racing as he jumped into his black Mitsubishi and headed to Naruto's house. Once he got there, he wasted no time in entering into the house. Jiraiya always kept his front door unlock, because they lived in a pretty safe neighborhood. As Sasuke bolted up the stairs, his hunch was right, Naruto was having another bad nose bleed, and he could hear the dobe and Jiraiya doing their best to stop the constant flow.

"Here, Naruto let me put some pressure on it, maybe that will cause it to stop." Jiraiya expressed as he pressed a cold compress against the gushing flow.

"It's no big deal, old man. We both know that I'm going to have lots of these, so don't get so freaked out about it because..."but Naruto didn't finish his sentence as he watched Sasuke walk further into the bedroom. Jiraiya was thankful, and yet still perturbed at seeing the raven's presence, but he wasn't going to start anything in front of Naruto.

Without understanding why Sasuke was walking up closer to him, Naruto sat up in bed trying to hold the pressure of the blood soaken white terry cloth against his nostrils. "Let me to that." Sasuke announced as he sat down next to Naruto on the bed, and took the cloth away from the dobe. Both Naruto and Jiraiya were speechless. What time of day was it, and why was Sasuke of all people getting ready to help him with his nose bleed? Wanting to ask the raven questions, he started to open his mouth when suddenly he felt very faint. Unable to say another word, Naruto had to lay his head down quickly, and Sasuke was the one who helped lower it onto his pillow. Not meaning to, Naruto fell asleep from feeling so weak.

Sasuke sat watching while Naruto continued sleeping, as his nose bleed subsided. Jiraiya stood watching at was happening in front of him, and he sensed something was up for the raven to be at his house when he was. As soon as Sasuke saw that Naruto was comfortable,and had a dry bath towel under his head on top of his pillow, he washed the cloth out in Naruto's bathroom sink before exiting the room and quietly closing the door. Jiraiya had been waiting.

"Now that Naruto is sound to sleep, do you want to tell me why you're in my house? Don't you have school right now?" Jiraiya questioned. Sasuke could see that the older man wasn't too happy seeing his presence there.

"We need to talk." Sasuke shared as he started trotting down the blue carpeted stairs. Jiraiya followed the Uchiha out to their kitchen until the raven sat himself down at the table and waited for Jiraiya to pour them both a cup of hot tea. Not knowing how he was even going to explain his reason for being there, he decided he needed to tell Jiraiya what he knew.

"Okay, spill. What do you know about my nephew? You wouldn't be here if you didn't know something." Jiraiya questioned. Sasuke took a sip from his floral designed cup before speaking.

"I know that Naruto is very sick." Sasuke blurted out right before taking another sip from his tea. Jiraiya looked at the raven and studied the boy's body language. Sure enough he was telling the truth. The raven looked very intense about knowing something.

"What is it that you think you know?" Jiraiya questioned further.

Without understanding why he was reacting as he was, Sasuke looked Jiraiya dead in the face. "Naruto has...leukemia and..." but Jiraiya didn't let the teen finish. Slamming his fist hard onto the table, he stood up and walked away while starting to pace the kitchen floor.

"How did you find out? Naruto just found out today, so how did you...?" but Sasuke interrupted.

"I overheard everything this morning. I...was going to see Naruto, but when I got there, the doctor was in the middle of telling you both what he had." the raven explained as he started feeling his eyes getting wet. Jiraiya watched the distraught teen start wiping at his eyes, and with compassion, the old man handed the upset boy a tissue. Sasuke saw what was being given to himself, and at first he hesitated in taking it. But Jiraiya put the tissue right in front of the raven's face as he edged him on to take the soft white paper from his hand. Finally Sasuke accepted the tissue while he remained choked up about everything, the news of Naruto, and now the kind gesture from Jiraiya.

Being exasperated, Jiraiya just said what was on his mind. "You had no business being there. You haven't been a good friend to my Naruto all these years, and it isn't right that now you know that he's sick that you want to come back on the scene. What do you think that you're going to do, huh? Do you think you can start feeling sorry for him, and start buddying up to him all of a sudden? Boy you really have some nerve." Jiraiya accused until Sasuke jumped in.

"It's not like that. I know I haven't been a good friend to Naruto, and..." but Jiraiya was still reeling with insults.

"You can say that again." the old man spewed.

"Let me finish." Sasuke ordered which made Jiraiya miffed, but he stopped to let Sasuke speak his mind. "I don't know why I'm feeling this way, but I am. Knowing that Naruto is really sick is bothering me for some reason. All I can say is that if either of you need me in anyway, I'll be here." the Uchiha spoke before standing up. Just as he was about to exit the cozy country decorated kitchen, Sasuke was startled. There standing in the kitchen's entrance was Naruto and he looked paler than ever. As Sasuke looked at him more closely, he had really lost a lot of weight.

"Naruto, what are you doing up?" Sasuke asked. Jiraiya wanted to jump in, but he felt it was his cue to exit the room.

"Naruto I'll be in my study if you need me kid." he announced as he excused himself. Naruto was feeling slightly dizzy and needed to sit in a chair fast. Sasuke watched as the exhausted blonde began teetering in the door's archway. Immediately he rushed over to help Naruto toward the one of the warm inviting wooden chairs with cushions on it, before he fell over.

"Here, come sit down. Do you want any tea? Jiraiya and I were..." but Naruto interrupted.

"Teme, why are you here? Why did you come here?" Naruto questioned with irritation. He really knew why Sasuke was there. He must have figured out that he was missing a lot of classes, and for some reason the teme had left school to chew him out. "About me not being in school...hee...hee...hee...I have a good reason for sure." Naruto rambled on. Sasuke sat watching how distraught Naruto really was underneath his happy facade.

"Naruto, I need to tell you something. I..." but Sasuke didn't get the chance to finish.

"It's okay teme. I'll be back to school in no time. I appreciate your concern, but I'm okay, really." Naruto continued lying being totally oblivious that Sasuke knew the truth. What was he going to say to the raven? _"Hey great news, Sasuke, but I just found out today that I have leukemia!." _No way. There was no way of telling anyone what was going on with him. Needing to prove that he could do his normal routine, Naruto decided on something.

"You know what, teme? You just helped me decide that I'm going to school today." Naruto blurted out as he tried pulling himself up and away from the table. Sasuke was surprised in hearing that response. He never expected that Naruto would go to school even if he was pretending that he was alright. How long would each one pretend that they didn't know about the disease? As Naruto started walking out of the kitchen, Sasuke was nervous that something was going to happen to the blonde.

"Are you sure about this? I mean, didn't you just come home from the hospital? What did the doctor tell you about your nosebleeds anyway?" the raven asked dumbly knowing full well what was really going on. Naruto tried steadying himself on his feet even though the room started to spin around him a little. Making sure that Naruto could stand on his feet okay, Sasuke was ready in case the dobe started to lose his balance.

"Do you want a ride then?" the raven asked, which of course surprised Naruto.

"You're offering me a ride? Why would you do that?" he asked as Sasuke realized that he must seem out of character to the blonde.

"Just forget I said anything. Get to school on your own then. I've got to go." the raven spoke pretending to be irritated with Naruto like he usually was. Naruto smiled at hearing that Sasuke was being his own self.

"That's fine with me." Naruto announced as he reached out to hold onto the archway sidings as he passed through it. Sasuke was pained at seeing Naruto struggling but there was nothing he could do for the blonde. Naruto had to believe that he was the same nasty acting Sasuke that he knew. But while he held his real intentions toward the blonde, he would have to remain at a distance in making sure that Naruto would be okay from now on.

Lee, was very perceptive and as the months passed, he started getting worried the more weight that Naruto lost. He was now whittled down to one hundred and sixty pounds and he had dropped another seventy pounds. Everyone could see the new transformation happening with Naruto, and some mistakened his weight loss as being because he was tired of being fat and finally wanted to do something about it. But Sasuke knew the truth. The disease was making the blonde weaker. Even though Naruto was extremely handsome, good looking or hot as some girls in his grade labled him, Hinata was worried for her secret crush. While passing by him in the hall one day, she noticed that Naruto was dabbing at his nose at his locker.

As soon as the blonde realized that she was looking at him, he put on his happy façade and beamed his beautiful smile to keep the beauty at bay from knowing the truth. "O hi Hinata, have you had any matches lately?" Naruto quickly asked knowing full well that she had just had a school match against Hidden Leaf High that past Friday. Hinata quaintly smiled at hearing the question. Naruto had been at that match, so it was strange that he would ask her that question, as if he hadn't come himself to root their team on.

"Yes I did, and you were there yourself, Naruto. Don't you remember that you..." but then Naruto started laughing loudly to interrupt the princess in front of him.

"Oh that's right, I was there...well sorry for not remembering that...I've got to go, so I'll see you later, Hinata!" he quickly hollered back as he rushed away from her as fast as he could. Hinata was completely confused. Why was Naruto acting so jittery all of a sudden? Didn't he feel comfortable being around her? Not knowing the answer, Hinata pondered these thoughts in her head as she continued walking toward the library. In the mean time, Naruto had rushed out of the school's side doors and was barely able to breathe from being so nervous and disappointed in himself for not being able to tell her the truth.

Not realizing that he wasn't alone, outside, the weight of everything happening to him in his life came crashing down upon him. The visits to the hospitals for blood transfusions, the excessive amount of weight that he kept losing, and the fact that he was pretending for everyone else's sake. It was proving to be all too much. Needing to succumb to everything going on in his life, Naruto reached a moment of surrender.

Slam

Naruto's books that he had been holding crashed to the blacktop hard. Hard binding covers flew open as the wind thrashed wildly against the open pages whipping them violently back and forth. Folders that held notes, and corrected past assignments were now strewn across the black topped basketball court as Naruto's tears blurred his vision. He had reached a point of numbness. Not being able to support his body's weight, his legs gave out from underneath him, and he crashed his knee caps hard against the unforgiving hardened surface.

Nothing mattered, no one mattered at the moment. Life was being cruel and Naruto truly couldn't handle its fury against him any longer. Without realizing in who's arms he had dropped into as he mindlessly felt himself falling forward, he allowed whoever was now holding him to keep doing so. The raven was overwhelmed with what pained emotion was pouring from his neglected friend. Naruto was in deep pain and he was unaware that it was the raven supporting him.

Naruto wailed out his anguish not knowing who the other someone listening to him, was. He needed to feel the friendship of someone, anyone, if only for a few moments. His heart was breaking in knowing that he was really sick. He had wanted to pretend that he was as fine as before, but the reality was showing him differently.

Hearing and seeing Naruto's anguish was proving to be too much for the Uchiha, and without understanding why he was doing it, he felt his hand raising to place it on the back of Naruto's hair. The blonde flinched at first at feeling the warmth of someone else's touch against him, but soon he settled into the caring feeling that he felt from it. Sasuke was just as shocked at himself as he was that Naruto was expressing himself in this way before him. But he reminded himself that Naruto probably didn't know who was even helping him at the moment. Unable to remain silent any longer, the raven opened his mouth hoping that it wouldn't scare Naruto in hearing that it was his voice.

"You're not in this alone, dobe. I'm going to be right here to help you through it." was the last thing Naruto heard before he went unconscious.


End file.
